09102019 - 2020: Buhari presents N10.33trn job creation budget to NASS

More documents

Recommendations

Info

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 Nigeria and climate change PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on September 24, 2019 in New York during the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, announced plans by his administration to “reverse the negative effects of climate change in Nigeria”. Indeed, Nigeria has long been known to be vulnerable to climate change and its adverse effects, especially on the health and livelihoods of Nigerians. For instance, desertification which is rapidly advancing southward and the possible submergence of the coastline along the Atlantic Ocean remain a disturbing threat. But there is a lot more to the problems associated with climate change and global warming. Before the summit began, millions of people, in what was described as the biggest climate protest ever, took to the streets in about 185 countries to demand urgent actions to cut emissions and stabilise the climate. Carbon emissions mounted to a record high last year, prompting warnings from the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the world has only about a decade left to act to cut emissions. For long, climate researchers have agreed that humanity could barely cope with a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius. Nigeria, which accounted for 36 per cent of gas flaring worldwide, had committed to completely eliminate flaring at oil wells by the end of 2008. But as at 2009, the country’s petroleum industry was still burning 24 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, equal to a third of the annual gas consumption of the European Union. This translated to emission of 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a figure which equalled the entire emission reduction programme submitted under the Kyoto Protocol. In 2016, Nigeria signed the Paris Accord and ratified same a year later in order to cut carbon emissions by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and increasing renewable energy adoption. Among other points, President Buhari had said in New York, that “…Nigeria is presently diversifying its energy sources from dependence on gas-powered system to hydro, solar, wind, biomass and nuclear sources…Nigeria is progressively working to realise 30 per cent energy efficiency and renewable energy mix by 2030...”. Although there is no concrete evidence on ground to show that such a renewable energy revolution is taking place in Nigeria, recently the Nigeria Customs Service arbitrarily imposed a 5% duty and 5% VAT on solar panels coming into Nigeria. Already, batteries, needed for storage of solar energy, are suffering a 20% duty. Yet, solar panels are supposed to be exempted from duties according to Nigeria’s Harmonised Systems, HS, Codes classification. These duties have hiked the cost of solar equipment, resulting in closure of many solar firms. Agreed, Nigeria made some significant progress, reducing flaring by 18 percent since 2013 to less than 8 billion cubic meters in 2015, her gas flaring profile still makes her a significant contributor to global warming. As Professor Charles Soludo said in a speech on October 1: “The world is not waiting for Nigeria. While electric cars are fast replacing petrol cars, many of our people are still building petrol stations.” Nigeria must sincerely join the rest of the world in the quest for clean energy. We must look beyond the present to a future without fossil fuel. • OPINION Nigeria’s increasing population and child malnutrition By Carl Umegboro AFRICA is the second most populous continent with over one billion people in the world. Sadly, the greatest number of births in the continent takes place in Nigeria. In fact, a forecast at a point did project that by 2015, one fifth of the continent’s entire births would take place in Nigeria alone, accounting for five percent of all global births which was relatively a reality. Presently, Nigeria’s population is over 180 million. Most critical is the United Nations statistics which reports that 48 percent of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 15 - comparatively a country of the young. And notwithstanding the fact that the population of children under the age of five years currently stands at nearly 31 million, no less than seven million new-born babies are added yearly without considering the implications. Meanwhile, over two-thirds of the population lives below poverty line. The human body essentially requires seven major types of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, fiber, minerals, protein, vitamins, and water. Unfortunately, numerous families rarely have good square meals. On the other hand, a high fraction suffers malnutrition due to ignorance of dietary. For instance, there are whole lots of natural, affordable foods and edibles that can boost nutrition but either unknown or ignored. Archetypes are grasshoppers which, according to research have 20 grams of protein and just 6g of fat per 100g, while crickets are good sources of iron, zinc and calcium. Amazingly, grasshoppers contain more protein than beef with a whopping 72 percent protein content, including all essential amino acids, and without saturated fat or cholesterol. In the most pathetic class are the large but poor families who due to ignorance have more children than necessary. Indisputably, unplanned pregnancies and births have continued to result to large families, regrettably without commensurate livelihoods, thereby often settling for whatever is available for survival, with or without nutritional contents. Instructively, nutrition is the supply of food materials required by organisms and cells to stay alive. Nutrition also focuses on how diseases can be prevented or reduced with a healthy diet and how certain diseases may be caused by dietary factors, such as poor diet, food allergy and intolerances. Remarkably, the use of the ‘Ready-to- Use-Therapeutic-Food’, RUTF, an initiative of UNICEF, has turned out to be a fêted relief as evidently shown in checkmating child malnutrition, albeit costly. This was evidenced by the health conditions of children who were hitherto malnourished but administered accordingly in the critical areas of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states of the North-East. Nonetheless, the crux of the matter is that despite these interventions from UNICEF with support from the Department for International Development, DFID, in providing succours to the critical areas, about 258,950 children, boys and girls may still suffer Severe-Acute-Malnutrition, SAM, in the three states in 2020, according to Nutrition Sector annual projections. Reportedly, a budget of N5billion is needed for the procurement of 258,950 cartons for the number. According to UNICEF-Nigeria, funding has been secured for merely 29,314 cartons of RUTF with a funding gap of N4.4 billion for these unfortunate victims. Sadly, nutrition experts avowed that children suffering from SAM are four to eleven times more likely to die compared to their healthy counterparts. Altogether, an estimated 2.5 million boys and girls under the age of five suffer from severe acute malnutrition yearly in Nigeria. Promoting family planning is a desideratum in addressing population upsurge; similarly, sensitisations on diet and having small families to cater for will reduce child malnutrition Statistically, the Nutrition Survey reported that the prevalence of Global-Acute- Malnutrition, GAM, in children below five years is 11% in Borno, 13% in Yobe and 6% Adamawa, which indicates very high levels of malnutrition in Nigeria, according to WHO (World Health Organisation) classification. UNICEF, on the other hand, affirmed that one in every two child deaths under the age of five is attributed to malnutrition. And if not timely identified and Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com treated, malnutrition has serious and permanent consequences in the growth and development of children. Above all, it causes irreversible brain damage and compromised intellectual capacity in adulthood leading to reduced productivity which accounts for estimated 16% loss in the Growth Domestic Product, GDP. According to the 2019 World Population Review, WPR, Nigeria’s population will hit 206 million by 2020, and 264 million by 2030 – crossing the 300 million threshold around 2036. In absolute terms, Nigeria is projected to add from 2031 to 2050 an additional 224 million babies (21 percent of the births in Africa and eight percent of all births in the world). Thus, Nigeria alone will possibly account for almost one tenth of all births in the world if not checked. Understanding this demographic transition and conscientiously putting in place realistic interventionist policies will be helpful in securing a robust, thriving nation of our dreams. For instance, research had shown that in 16 African countries, including Nigeria, less than 20 percent of women of reproductive age are acquainted with contraceptive methods, hence producing babies without restraints. In the event, an indisputable practicable panacea is family planning. By its awareness, more women will practically have access to modern contraceptives, thereby reducing numbers of unintended pregnancy to the minimum. In other words, promoting family planning is a desideratum in addressing population upsurge. Similarly, sensitizations on diets and having small families to cater for will reduce child malnutrition. *Umegboro, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja
Why disbursement of N5bn mining fund was stalled — Minister By Gabriel Ewepu THE Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Architect Olamilekan Adegbite, has indicated that lack of suitable model may have hindered the disbursement of Nigeria’s N5 billion mining fund, three years after it was put in place. Adegbite had explained to newsmen yesterday, ahead of the 4th Annual Nigeria Mining Week, that the Solid Mineral Development Fund, SMDF, seed fund was targeted at helping miners to develop their business, especially the artisanal and small scale miners. He stated: “I must admit that three years after, the money has not been disbursed, but the good thing is that it is intact. There is only one disbursement from that money. I think a quarry in Oyo State was able to access that fund, which was N95 million. “We have the problem in designing a model that would work. There is this tendency that government money is part of the national cake. So, we are careful not to throw the money away.” He also said the money is with the Bank of Industry, and the Bank of Industry is supposed to match that fund with another N2.5 billion to bring up the total disbursable money to N5 billion. However, he stated: “We are designing some programmes to accelerate the disbursement of this money now. We are encouraging the miners to go into cooperatives because this supposed to be accessed easily at low interest rates.” “Also we are thinking of equipment leasing so that some of this money can be acquired equipment and some of this equipment will be placed strategically all over the country so that people operating in CURRENCY BUYING SELLING US DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL SDR DANISH RAND $ 95.55 -1.45 $2,451.00 29.00 $12.46 - 0.06 $58.07 -0.28 $52.40 - 0.35 306 306.5 307 377.298 377.9145 378.531 336.3858 336.9355 337.4851 307.8781 308.3811 308.8842 2.8641 2.8688 2.8735 0.4917 0.5017 0.5117 417.2145 417.8962 418.5779 42.8023 42.8727 42.9431 81.5804 81.7137 81.847 418.5162 419.2001 419.8839 45.0391 45.1127 45.1863 20.2206 20.2536 20.2867 CBN Exchange rate as at 08/10/2019 Electricity: TCN approves 1,000mw underground supply to Eko Atlantic City By Prince Okafor THE Transmission Compa ny of Nigeria, TCN, has said it will supply Eko Atlantic City in Victoria Island, Lagos, about 1,000Megawatts, MW, of electricity from the grid under its Eligible Customers arrangement. The Managing Director of TCN, Dr Usman Mahammed, who disclosed this to newsmen during a tour at the territory, said that the connection will be an underground arrangement from Alagbon Transmission station at Ikoyi to the City. He said: “We have conducted a study under which we want to supply Eko Atlantic City directly from the grid. The study conducted shown that gradually the energy required by the city will be closed to 1,000mw. “TCN will build a 330kva double circuit line from Lekki to the city, but we are going to step down and supply them at this time at 132 so that when the need for 330 comes up in future we don’t need to build a new line. “We will only add the transformers, meaning that we will just build a substation at 330kva. TCN had placed an advert for the pre-qualification of contractors for both lines and the substation. “We have already advertised for the pre-qualification of contractors for both lines and substation. We are working closely with Lagos State Government and they have given us all the support we need and the ‘Right of Way’ has been established and we are working to ensure that we realize it. “At present we will connect them to about 30mw, which will later increase to 1,000MW. All arrangements that will make it reach 1,000mw is what we are putting in place. “Under the Eligible Customer arrangement, Eko Atlantic City is going to be connected directly to the grid. So, there is no Distribution Companies (DISCOs) requirement. “At present we have about eight companies under eligible customers’ arrangement and what we signed for them is closed to 200mw. But they are not taking up to 200mw because some of them being Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 — 19 L-R: General Manager, Business and Government Relations of Shell Nigeria, Bashir Bello; Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kolo Kyari; Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas, Ed Ubong; and Shell Nigeria’s Commercial Integration Manager, Taaj Shobayo, at the Rethinking the Future of Extractives session of the Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja yesterday. those areas can access the equipment. We will partner with manufacturers of the equipment.” “We want to put life into Nigeria Mining Week. We want to attract people, right names to be at the Mining Week. It may be a bit late this year, like I said the planning for the next Mining Week will start immediately after this one.” steel companies are not operating at their optimum.” The Utility Manager, South Energy, for Eko Atlantic City, Mr. Khaled Based, said the company was committed to providing all the infrastructural facilities including supply to their partners in the city. “With TCN, we will be able to realize this under the Eligible Customers arrangement. All facilities related to power distribution within the city is almost ready to receive power for phase one and two. Some palm oil producers and dealers have decried the unrestricted importation of foreign palm oil into the Nigerian market, saying it would cause further harm to the economy. They lamented the fall in the price of the commodity in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that Malaysian oil had taken over the market. Katrine Ukaegbu, an Imo State-based palm producer, speaking via telephone said this season was when they made good sales from the product but with the influx of the foreign oil the price had crashed. “A twenty-five litres of oil which used to sell for NNPC to partner AFREXIMBANK on refineries rehabilitation THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed readiness to collaborate with the African Export and Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) or any financial institution willing to finance its critical projects, especially refineries rehabilitation, downstream infrastructure, including pipelines. The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mallam Melle Kyari, stated this when he played host to the Executive Vice President of AFREX- IMBANK, Mr. Amr Kamel, and other top officials of the bank who paid him a business visit at the NNPC Towers, a release by NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, stated today in Abuja. Speaking in response to the AFREXIMBANK boss’ desire to participate in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, Mallam Kyari said the corporation was open to financial and technical partnership with reputable financial institutions like the AFRIXIMBANK to develop the Industry. “We have a number of financing needs; it depends on how much you are bringing to the table. We need support particularly in refineries rehabilitation, depot optimization and pipelines financing”, the GMD stated. He assured the team of his readiness to work with the bank, adding: “We will provide you with basic information. We are ready to talk to you”. Speaking earlier, Amr Kamel said he was in NNPC to congratulate the GMD and his management team on behalf of the board and management of the bank. He said the bank’s management team thought it imperative to interact with NNPC, being a key player in one of the most viable sectors of the Nigerian economy which is the largest in Africa, with a view to seeking collaboration on ways to further grow the oil and gas sector. Apart from financing of refineries rehabilitation and other downstream projects, the AFREXIMBANK boss expressed interest in participating in some other projects such as the Ajaokuta-Kaduna- Kano (AKK) pipeline system. Palm oil dealers lament over imported products N19,000 and upward during offseasons that starts from June to December, now sells for N14,000 and downward. The import of this is that the attraction to the farmers, producers and local dealers is being eroded by much cheaper readily available foreign brands,” she said. According to her, the government should halt the importation in order to retain the job of millions of Nigerians that make a living from the produce. Caleb Uzondu, a dealer, who trades on the produce from the eastern part to Lagos, said that the trend, if allowed to continue, would spell doom for the economy.
Page 1 and 2: 40 Poverty and the Nigerian attitud
Page 3 and 4: Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 201
Page 5 and 6: vanguardnews @vanguardnews Vanguard
Page 13 and 14: VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 201
Page 17: Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 201
Page 27 and 28: Vanguard, Wednesday, OCTOBER 9, 201
Page 37 and 38: NESG REPORTS Vanguard WEDNESDAY, OC
Page 39 and 40: Italy shrinks parliament to save co
Page 41 and 42: vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguar

09102019 - 2020: Buhari presents N10.33trn job creation budget to NASS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?